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Laurie Shepard and John B. Dillon
PIERRE MAUCLERC
(ca. 1189/90–1250)
Pierre de Dreux (or de Braine), better known as Pierre
Mauclerc, was a member of the distinguished Dreux
family, a cadet branch of the Capetian line. He was a
younger son of Louis VII’s nephew Robert II, count
of the small fi efs of Dreux and Braine. Although not
a landless baron, Pierre’s original endowment of lands
from his father was small, the villas and manors of
Fère-en-Tardenois, Brie-Comte-Robert, Chilly, and
Longjumeau. By his marriage in 1212 to Alix, the heir-
ess of Brittany and claimant to the English honor of
Richmond, however, he became titular earl of Richmond
and titular duke of Brittany (or count, in the view of
French authorities unwilling to acknowledge Brittany’s
ducal status).
Pierre immediately set about imposing his will on the
fi ercely independent Breton baronage, exacting reliefs
and wardships contrary to custom, despoiling or seizing
seigneuries whose lords resisted, and commencing a
concerted attack against the privileges of the episcopate.
This last action precipitated his excommunication and,
in retaliation, his expulsion of six of the seven bishops
of Brittany. Although his wife died in 1221, he continued
as guard (custos) and effective ruler of Brittany until his
son came of age in late 1237.
Knighted in 1209 by Philip II Augustus, Pierre was
secure in his position as ruler of Brittany as long as
Philip, with whom he got along well, continued to reign.
But with the old king’s death in 1223, Pierre became
a less trustworthy ally of the new king, Louis VIII (r.
1223–26), although he did take part in crusading expe-
ditions against the Albigensian heretics led by Louis
as prince (1219) and king (1226). His emerging lack
of devotion to royal policies originated partly from his
claims to land in England, claims that made him always
eager to cultivate the Capetians’ traditional enemy, the
Plantagenêts. His own overweening ambition to be the
preeminent baron in northwest Europe fueled his politi-
cal maneuvering. After the death of his fi rst wife, he
aspired to the hand of the countess of Flanders in 1226
and the queen of Cyprus (who had claims in the great fi ef
of Champagne) in 1229, only to be thwarted by the king
and the pope, who had their own interests to preserve in
the disposition of the heiresses and their fi efs. He was
reduced to marrying a minor baroness, Marguerite de
Montaigu, in 1230; and his resentment was strong. He
had already become an open rebel in 1227 because of
the failure of the regent, Blanche of Castile, to submit
to his infl uence or cede the regency of the young Louis
IX. He was instrumental in 1229 in attacking the count
of Champagne, a supporter of the regent whose fi ef
Pierre coveted. He courted the favor of the English king,
received military support and large subsidies from him,
and rebelled against the French crown again in 1230–31
and still again briefl y in 1234. In all of these efforts, his
forces were soundly thrashed, though never completely
eliminated, by the royal troops.
In November 1237, after his son reached majority
and took over control of Brittany, Pierre succeeded in
consolidating a small lordship around the nucleus of
his wife’s lands in the Breton-Poitevin march. His sub-
sequent career saw him active as a crusader against the
Muslims, an effort that achieved a reconciliation with
the papacy (1235) if not with local clerics, whom he
continued to harass whenever he was in a position to do
so. He served with distinction on the crusade of Thibaut
de Navarre (1239–40) and died of illness and wounds in
1250 on the return home from St. Louis’s crusade.See also Blanche of Castile; Louis IX;
Philip II AugustusPIER DELLA VIGNA